Original War Review Summary

A unique RTS RPG blend with meaningful permadeath and high replay value, though held back by dated visuals, poor voice acting, and technical bugs.

Unique RTS RPG blend: The game is praised for its innovative combination of real-time strategy and role-playing game elements, offering a unique gameplay experience with character development and strategic depth.

Meaningful permadeath mechanic: Permadeath adds tension and significance to each unit, making players care about their soldiers' survival and adding weight to strategic decisions.

High replay value: Players highlight the game's exceptional replayability, with many having completed campaigns multiple times and invested hundreds of hours due to branching stories and diverse missions.

Narrative choices with consequences: The game interweaves tactical and narrative choices that affect gameplay, featuring branching storylines, multiple endings, and dialogue options that enhance replayability.

Active community support: The game still enjoys an active and dedicated community that continues to provide updates, mod support, and maintains a lively multiplayer environment, even years after its release.

Dated graphics and visuals: Multiple clusters mention that the game's graphics are outdated, with simple sprites and low resolution, making them not good by modern standards. This is a common concern for new players.

Poor voice acting quality: Several reviews criticize the voice acting, particularly in the Russian and Arabic campaigns, describing it as terrible, inconsistent, or like a parody. The English version is also noted as poor.

No sequel or successor: Many reviews express disappointment that the game never received a sequel or additional content, with one noting the developer was absorbed and a sequel is unlikely.

Unfair difficulty and design: Some missions are described as unfairly difficult, with infinite enemy resources, teleporting troops, and unavoidable attacks that target only the player. One campaign mission is considered broken.

Bugs and technical issues: Various bugs are mentioned, including softlocks in missions, keyboard input freezes with Japanese layout, and compatibility issues with modern systems like Windows 10.

Real-time strategy core: This is a real-time strategy game combining base building, resource management, and unit control. Classic RTS mechanics form the foundation, with RPG elements mixed in for progression.

Branching campaign narratives: The campaign features branching missions and choices that affect the story and lead to multiple endings. Player decisions have meaningful consequences and encourage replayability.

Permadeath for characters: Characters and units can die permanently, with no way to revive them. This loss impacts gameplay and narrative, forcing careful tactical decisions.

Profession and class system: Characters have professions or classes such as soldier, mechanic, engineer, and scientist. These roles define skill sets and progression, adding strategic depth to unit management.

Factions: American and Russian: The game features two main factions, American and Russian, each with their own campaign. An Arab faction is also mentioned as a third playable side.

Good performance on modern hardware: The game runs well on modern PC hardware and is compatible with various systems, including Windows 7. Users report no bugs or crashes on capable machines.

Keyboard input freeze issue: There is a keyboard input freeze bug specifically triggered by using a Japanese keyboard layout. This can make the game unplayable for users with that setting.

Compatibility issues exist: Some users encounter general compatibility problems that prevent the game from running smoothly. These issues may require troubleshooting or specific system configurations.

Recommended for RTS fans: The game is widely recommended for fans of real-time strategy games, including both veterans and beginners. Many reviews specifically highlight its appeal to those who enjoy RPG elements within an RTS framework.

RPG elements praised: Several reviews specifically praise the game's combination of RTS mechanics with RPG elements, such as character development and a meaningful loss of a character. This unique blend is seen as a strength.

Great value for price: Multiple reviews highlight the game's low price (often under $10 or on sale for very little) as a strong selling point. The game is considered well worth the money for the content it offers.

Good for old-school strategy fans: The game is recommended for fans of old-school strategy games who appreciate gameplay depth and are not put off by its older graphics or mechanics.

Strong single-player campaign: The single-player campaign is highly recommended by many reviewers, and the game is considered a must-play for solo strategy fans. The story and campaign are highlighted as standout features.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00.

Game completion: 60.0h.

Story completion: 40.0h.

Original War starts with technical issues and outdated graphics that frustrate new players, but after a few hours of campaign gameplay, the engaging mechanics, story, and community make it enjoyable.

Friction: technical startup issues; outdated graphics; lack of AI skirmish or practice mode; small multiplayer community; initial resolution setup issues.

Unlock drivers: unobtrusive tutorial hints integrated into campaign; engaging campaign missions with permadeath and character progression; active modding community; functional multiplayer community; overcoming initial technical barriers.

Nostalgic Returnee: Replays singleplayer campaigns and occasionally explores mods, savoring nostalgic moments. Motivation: Reliving childhood memories and completing campaigns for sentimental value. Stance: sale.

Hardcore Tactician: Plays meticulously, values each unit due to permadeath, and embraces high difficulty and tactical decision-making. Motivation: Seeking a challenging, thoughtful blend of RTS and RPG mechanics with meaningful consequences. Stance: buy.

Community Modder & Multiplayer Enthusiast: Participates in the modding scene, creates or uses custom content, plays multiplayer matches, and engages with the community on Discord or other platforms. Motivation: Contributing to and enjoying the active community, modding, and multiplayer longevity. Stance: buy.

Steam Deck: The game runs well on Steam Deck using Proton with OpenGL, requiring only a minor resolution adjustment to fix UI scaling. No crashes, launcher issues, or anti-cheat errors reported, resulting in a seamless experience.